Erasmus’ controversial works often took the form of ‘open letters’ which lived their own life in the public domain, and form part of his works rather than his correspondence; a good example is theLetter to Christopher bishop of Basel on the eating of meat,21 April 1522, of which fifteen editions were published in the first two years, with German and English versions as well. And from the summer of 1517 onwards, if not earlier, individual letters were put out either in Latin or in the vernacular, usually for propaganda purposes, as a rule outside Erasmus’ control, and sometimes...